“I was just curious on what Miguel and you believe about racism in the church as a whole?  From the early years and now?
My personal thoughts are that God being unbiased and therefore not racist, understood that the white members at the time were not ready for the blessings of letting every worthy male have the Priesthood. As for the Joseph Smith years I personally believe that Joseph was not the type of person to even care about race and even promote that everyone is the same. Unfortunately I also believe the white members at the time were not ready for the blessings. They feared the wrath of man too much. Joseph, like with many things such as tobacco, was years and years before his time. He wanted to have Zion on earth so bad because of the great visions he had from God and the very personal relationship he had with God. These feelings may have been passed on to each prophet but in turn they realized the White members were not in the spiritual place to receive such blessings. Like they began down a wrong path for miles and miles and finally had to backtrack to get on the right path. I believe now we have gotten on to the correct path. That said we still have a long long way to get where we need to be.”

Dr. Williams and Miguel tackle a listener question from Greg.

If you would like to learn more about Dr. LaShawn’s views on this subject, click here. 
If you would like to learn more about Miguel’s views on the  subject, click here.

If you have any questions for Dr. Williams to answer on the podcast, please fill out the form below or send them to racism101@rationalfaiths.com.  We encourage our listeners to email us a voice-mail question so we can play it on the podcast. Also, please share this podcast with friends if you find this series helpful.

Dr. LaShawn Williams and Miguel Barker  Valdez

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    LaShawn is a mental health professional in Utah, USA. She is a lifelong member of the LDS Church and sees the Gospel as an invitation to live a full and authentic life.

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